The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and a method for cleaning thin discs, such as semiconductor wafers, compact discs, glass substrates and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to cleaning the edges of a thin disc.
Semiconductor device manufacturing equipment may employ the use of a nozzle for spraying fluid (e.g., deionized water, SC1, etc.) or an etchant (e.g., nitric acid, etc.) onto a semiconductor substrate on which the semiconductor device is or will be formed. In practice, such semiconductor device manufacturing equipment may require accurate positioning of the nozzle so that the fluid or etchant impacts only a specific portion of the semiconductor substrate. For instance, when a nozzle is employed within an edge bead removal chamber (an EBR chamber), which is adapted to etch the edge of a semiconductor substrate so as to remove a specific material (e.g., copper) formed thereon, the nozzle must be accurately positioned to spray the etchant only onto the edge portion of the semiconductor substrate because the etchant otherwise may undesirably remove material from the major surface of the semiconductor device.
It is difficult, however, to accurately position a nozzle due to the many variables that have to be taken into account. Such variables may include specific angles (e.g., the angle between a nozzle and a line tangent to a semiconductor substrate) and the distance between the nozzle and the semiconductor substrate.
Accordingly, an improved method and apparatus is needed that may calibrate a nozzle""s position, may reduce the number of position variables, and may allow for variation of at least one of the position variables.
An inventive method is provided that (1) prevents variation in (i.e., fixes) a process height of a nozzle relative to a substrate support, (2) fixes an angle of incidence measured between the nozzle and a substrate supported by the substrate support, and (3) allows variation in an impact angle measured between a fluid sprayed from the nozzle and a line tangent to a substrate impacted by the fluid spray. The inventive method may be performed in any conventional apparatus that may require accurate positioning of a nozzle. For example, the inventive method may be employed within an Edge Bead Remover(EBR) chamber.
In addition to the inventive method, an inventive nozzle assembly is also provided. The inventive nozzle assembly comprises a nozzle and a nozzle mounting location configured such that when the nozzle is mounted to the nozzle mounting location, the nozzle""s process height and the fluid spray""s angle of incidence are fixed, while the fluid spray""s impact angle may vary without affecting the point at which the fluid impacts the substrate (i.e., a fluid impact point).
Other features and aspects of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings.